Of all the things in my life, it is my relationships with others that are most important. I’ve heard that nobody on their death-bed is thinking about their vocation, but about their family and friends. It’s true, relationships are the key to life.

As you look at the ten commandments you’ll notice that the first five of them are about your primary relationship: with God, and the last five of them are about your relationship with others. God has rightly put these in order based on the importance of relationship with Him being primary and relationship with others being secondary. Below are some random thoughts on those relationships.

Relationship with God. God desires and pursues relationship with mankind and His pursuit of that has been recorded in the bible and other documents throughout human history. Our response to God’s pursuit of us is key, as with any relationship. We must communicate with someone if we are to be in relationship. If you say you are in relationship with God and never read His words or spend time with Him in prayer/meditation, that is like saying you are best friends with someone to whom you never talk or listen. It is ridiculous. Relationships of any kind require consistent communication and God is always present, pursing relationship with us, because He loves us. He primarily communicates to us through His Holy Scriptures, and will never communicate in other ways something that is contrary to those Scriptures. However, He does speak to His people as evidenced in the Bible, and in the lives of many believers. Listening is the most important part of prayer, yet it is often the most omitted. We give God our list of wishes and no matter how good or justified that list may be, prayer is much more than making our request known to Him. He already knows what we need. He wants to spend time with us, and allow us to get to know Him. Prayer is to transform our will to God’s will, not the other way around.

Relationship with Others. How we live out relationships with others will tell a lot about how our relationship is with God. If we are close to God and living out His word in our daily life, others will be drawn to us. If He is lifted up, He will draw everyone to Himself, the scripture says in John 12:32. However, we should not be shocked when relationships become messy. We are all broken people living in a broken world, who have an Enemy who seeks to still, kill, and destroy us. Why should we be shocked when we find it difficult to keep right relationship with others around us? The enemy fears us being in right relationship with God and with others, because he knows that against such there is no law. We are instructed to Love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Relationships really are the key to life. Don’t believe it? Try to think of your life without relationship. Isolation is the first step the enemy uses to destroy us…if he can make us think we are the ONLY one who is feeling isolated, it is a short trip to depression and self-absorpsion. We become our own god, removing God the Father from his rightful place, thus losing our true life. Life begins and is sustained by relationships.

“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:1 (ESV)

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid”. John 14:27 (ESV)

In difficult times, when we seem lost or afraid–we are troubled in our hearts. Here Jesus gives us PEACE…HIS PEACE!
There are times during the “storms of life” that we have a type of peace. The winds seem to die down, the tempest calms… Read More…

Recently, my wife and I have been taking some couples from our church through the study, Love and War by John and Stacey Eldgredge. It has been amazing at how much we are learning through this honest and straight forward approach to our relationship with God and with one another. I would highly recommend you visit Ransomed Heart ministries and get the book, participant’s guide, even a leader’s guide and go through the video series with a few other couples. It could change everything!

“Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment.” Proverbs 18:1 (ESV)

When we isolate ourselves from our support system of family/friends, we are really being selfish. If we are to become al that God wants us to be, we must trust a friend with our heart and take guidance from them at times.

No man (or woman) is an island! We were created for communion with our Creator as well as other created beings. We need the wisdom of those who’ve gone before us as well as the boldness of those who challenge our thinking to help us become better. What would happen if we didn’t ever take instruction and advice from a friend who has my best interest at heart? Read More…

Good Leadership is a channel of water controlled by God; He directs it to whatever ends He chooses. –Proverbs 21:1 (The Message)

Wow! Good Leadership is defined by the world in a “results-drven” or “money-driven” way most of the time. Even by some prominent Christians as “Influence” or “Power”. (which is partially true) This verse describes leadership that is “good” as God-Controlled Power/Influence, or “Power Submitted”. Not what we normally think of when looking at most leaders today.

What if the “old-school” existing leaders would submit and share some authority and wisdom of experience with the younger “emerging” Read More…

“There is no room for fear in love.” –1 John 4:18a (Message Bible)

What do we fear? Why do we fear? Honest answers to these questions can tell you many things about a person. Do we fear man more than God? What do our actions say to back that up?

Later in 1 John 4, it says, “Fear is crippling…” To be crippled in this sense is to be limited. Basically, when we fear (or live a life of fear) we limit how much God can work in our lives. (note: He’s God and He can do all things, so we really can’t truly limit His actions) We really limit ourselves by the exact proportion to which we give ourselves away to God and others! If our mission is to Love God and Love Others —and it’s Read More…

I just wanted to post this quick and funny story that REALLY did happen to us!
Last Sunday we visited a church gathering where, in the course of a conversation, we were challenged by a lady to do something we had already been talking about lately…to stop watching Television for a week. The reason for this is to see just how much time we waste worshipping the tube! So we took this challenge seriously and didn’t turn the TV on for the entire week. Not just any week, but the week of all the season premiers of some of our favorite shows.
All week, we seemed to have more time to read, study, talk and work on cleaning out the basement, getting ready for an upcoming and unavoidable yard sale.
After working all evening on Friday, we decided to watch the season premier of “Numbers” at 10:00 p.m. Read More…

I am learning the value of the connections between relationships and blood pressure over the last few days. There are many factors about our relationships that play a part in our overall health. I’m not sure if there has been any official studies on how our relationships increase or decrease our systolic and diastolic numbers, but I’m convinced there is a connection.

First, let me say that my lovely wife and I have not had any abnormal arguments or disagreements. I state this to dispel any theories that I am referring to our relationship as the source of my high blood pressure issue. Of course, like all couples, we have our moments, but in case the in-laws stumble upon my blog, let me assure you we are very much in love with one another and things are okay in our relationship. Read More…

This post is a result of a friend’s suggestion that we write a book together about our “church without a name”. Thanks Rick, for your suggestion…who knows, maybe this will be the future introduction to our “book”. 🙂

I was asked by someone the other day regarding the name of the church gathering I attended. I love it when I get asked about our church’s name because it gives me the opportunity to share about my “fellowship of the heart” with others. I also hate it when asked this question, because I feel like most folks think we are attending some type of “cult” or something. “drink the koolaid! drink the koolaid!” Nothing could be further from the truth! Read More…